'Cannabis' plants removed from Dorset village's display

The six plants appeared to be thriving among the flowers in the council planter

Six suspicious plants have been removed from a parish council display after concerns were raised by a resident.

Gardener Tray Veronica was convinced the unusual greenery were cannabis plants when she spotted them in the planter in West Parley, Dorset.

She said: "I can identify most plants so my head did a 360 when I spotted them in the council planter."

The parish council said they were "not part of this year's schedule" and have been handed to police to be identified.

Ms Veronica said: "The plants were pretty big when I spotted them so they'd have been in there for a few weeks unnoticed. I'm assuming this was someone's idea of a joke."

'Removed and secured'

West Parley Parish Council said it first became aware of the plants in one of the village's floral displays on Wednesday.

It believed the planter "may have been tampered with and amongst the flowers was a plant not part of this year's schedule", it said in a statement.

A few days before the discovery, the parish council posted pictures of the displays on its Facebook page.

Councillor Andrew Parry, chairman of the council, said: "On the advice of the police, the plant was located, removed and has been secured by the parish council.

"An inspection has taken place of the parish's other planters, and this has not raised any further concerns."

Theories as to how the plants arrived in the planter varied on social media, although many believed it to be a hemp plant.

Responding on Facebook, Andy Knott posted: "The seeds are common in bird seed mixes and some find their way into flowerbeds and easily self-seed."